Country
Nigeria
Which bodies have a remit over qualifications and continuing professional development in Nigeria, where that remit stops, and what happens to a qualification arriving from outside.
The system in short
Nigeria’s skills framework is a nine-level structure plus an access level, administered by the technical education board and mapped against the ordinary educational qualifications. Evaluation of a qualification earned abroad is handled by the Federal Ministry of Education, and moved online in September 2026. Continuing professional development, as everywhere else on this site, belongs to the individual professional regulators rather than to any of these bodies.
Is CPD required
The Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria has directed that participation in its continuing professional development programme is a mandatory requirement for licence renewal by all doctors. The total credit unit to be obtained is 20 annually, or 40 for a biannual licence renewal, where one credit unit is equivalent to one contact hour under qualified, approved tutelage. For annual or biannual re-licensing a doctor must obtain credit units from at least three of the seven groups of CPD activity the Council recognises. The Council is the regulatory body for the practice of medicine, dentistry and alternative medicine in Nigeria, established by an Act of Parliament in 1963, now Cap M8, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004.
The qualifications framework
Nigerian Skills Qualifications Framework (NSQF)
A system for the development, classification and recognition of skills, knowledge, understanding and competencies acquired by individuals, irrespective of where and how the training or skill was acquired. The revised framework published in the NBTE Operational Manual of January 2023 runs to nine levels plus an Access Level, and maps each level against the national educational system: Level 1 against pre-vocational and junior secondary, Level 5 against the national diploma, Level 6 against a degree or higher national diploma, and Level 9 against a doctorate. Note that a six-level version, approved by the Federal Executive Council in April 2013, is still widely quoted elsewhere. The nine-level structure is the one in the current manual.
A qualification from outside the country
Federal Ministry of Education evaluation
Evaluation and authentication of academic documents is handled by the Evaluation and Accreditation Division of the Federal Ministry of Education. The division evaluates local and foreign qualifications for employment and admission purposes, authenticates Nigerian awards for study abroad, and issues eligibility and no-objection letters. The published fee for an evaluation is 500 naira, and for authentication 300 naira per page, with the Ministry stating that it takes an average of one or two working days to access the services. On 8 September 2026 the Ministry announced that the process had been fully automated and that applicants no longer need to attend in person, with applications made through its online platform.
Bodies with a remit
National Board for Technical Education
Administers the Nigerian Skills Qualifications Framework, which is based on National Occupational Standards and recognises competence however it was acquired, including through informal and on-the-job learning.
Outside its remit: The framework is a skills framework. It maps against academic qualifications but does not itself award or validate a university degree.
Evaluation and Accreditation Division, Department of Education Support Services
Evaluates local and foreign qualifications for employment and admission, authenticates Nigerian academic and professional qualifications for study abroad, and issues eligibility letters and no-objection letters to institutions.
Outside its remit: An evaluation addresses the document and its academic standing. It does not register anyone to practise a regulated profession, which is a matter for that profession’s council.
Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria
The regulatory body for the practice of medicine, dentistry and alternative medicine, established by an Act of Parliament in 1963, now Cap M8, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004. Runs the CPD programme that licence renewal depends on.
Outside its remit: Professions other than medicine, dentistry and alternative medicine, which are regulated separately.
Where nothing covers you
Not yet checked
Only the medical and dental regulator has been read. Engineering, accountancy, law, teaching and the other regulated professions in Nigeria set their own continuing professional development requirements, and those have not been checked. The comparative table entry covers doctors and dentists only.
No check recorded